


That Killer Wing and Contour

by ImWithEnjolras



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-26 00:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10775910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImWithEnjolras/pseuds/ImWithEnjolras
Summary: “How in the world do you get your eyeliner like that?” It’s a fairly innocuous question from Lance; considering who Lance is and how long he and Shiro have been friends, it definitely could have been worse.But that didn’t mean it didn’t catch Shiro off-guard.“What…?” Lance leans further forward, palms braced against Shiro’s kitchen table, carefully scrutinizing Shiro’s face.“It’s, like, really sharp.” Shiro feels like he’s going cross-eyed. He’s not uncomfortable with Lance’s closeness; he’s used to it, but he doesn’t think his eyes could handle any more of this particular strain. “And, like, never smudges…”





	That Killer Wing and Contour

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the thing I wrote for the Shance Zine! It was really fun!

“How in the world do you get your eyeliner like that?” It’s a fairly innocuous question from Lance; considering who Lance is and how long he and Shiro have been friends, it definitely could have been worse. 

But that didn’t mean it didn’t catch Shiro off-guard.

“What…?” Lance leans further forward, palms braced against Shiro’s kitchen table, carefully scrutinizing Shiro’s face.

“It’s, like, really sharp.” Shiro feels like he’s going cross-eyed. He’s not uncomfortable with Lance’s closeness; he’s used to it, but he doesn’t think his eyes could handle any more of this particular strain. “And, like, never smudges…”

“Uh...Lance?” Lance looks him right in the eyes, going equally as cross-eyed as Shiro.

“Oh. My bad!” The other man snorts, backing up to sit back in his seat. Shiro can’t help but laugh along with Lance. 

“Well...I guess I could teach you how I do my makeup…” At this, Lance brightens up, grin spreading almost inhumanly wide. 

“Sorry!” Shiro gives Lance his patented ‘don’t unnecessarily apologize for small things’ look and Lance giggles sheepishly. “I will owe you my life three times over!”

“That’s probably unnecessary.”

“It is  _ absolutely  _ necessary!” Lance clenches his fist, putting as much conviction behind his movement as he can. “Also! Can we maybe start out easy?”

“Come on and get your coat. We’ve got to go on a Sephora run.”

Lance is up and nearly out the door, whooping the whole way, before Shiro could even grab his keys.

 

* * *

 

“And what! Are these?” Shiro looks over at Lance who is quizzically holding up a package like it’s Simba from The Lion King.

“Those,” Shiro says, fond tone sneaking into his voice despite the stares the Sephora staff are giving the pair. “Are Beauty Blenders. You’ll be using those, so put them into the bag.”  

Lance nods, mouth in the shape of an O as he drops the Beauty Blenders into his shopping basket. “What’re they for?”

“They’re for blending your foundation and concealer and stuff.” Lance nods, holding still as Shiro holds up another pan of foundation to match his complexion. “I think this one’s perfect.”

“I know I am!” Lance grins and Shiro pokes his cheek. 

“Let’s go, you goof.”

“Shiro!” Lance whines, extending the last syllable of Shiro’s name. “This is going to be so expensive!”

“Such is the price of beauty and flawless skin,” Shiro leads the way to the counter, already pulling out his Sephora Beauty Insider card. Lance sighs heavily from behind him.

“If you say so…”

 

* * *

 

One week has passed since Lance first asked Shiro for makeup lessons and Shiro has to give it to his childhood best friend - he’s not giving up.

Lance is, as usual, sat in front of Shiro’s vanity. He’s slowly applying his eyeliner on his right eye, tongue poking out of his mouth in concentration. Shiro tries to stifle his laugh, but he can’t, not when Lance his hair pushed back with a headband with kitten ears. 

“Here,” Shiro says, approaching Lance from behind. “Give me that. I’ll fix it up.”

Lance enthusiastically hands Shiro his eyeliner brush, dutifully closing his eyes with a satisfied looking smile. “Y’know, people have been complimenting my eyeliner lately!”

“That’s good.” Shiro holds Lance’s face still with a gentle grip on his chin. “You’ve gotten very good at it.”

“I still don’t really get the whole baking thing...or even the contour thing either.” Shiro extends the wing of Lance’s eyeliner; it wouldn’t hurt to accentuate Lance’s incredibly blue eyes.

“It’s mostly blending technique, but we’ll just take it one step at a time.” Offhandedly, Shiro thinks about how Lance has some very blue and very beautiful eyes. “Okay, open up and let me see.”

Lance continues his line of questioning without pause. “That’s another thing. Am I supposed to feel like I’m punching myself a bajillion times with a glorified pillow?”

“If you don’t feel like that, you’re probably doing it wrong.” Shiro chuckles, wordlessly adding more highlight onto Lance’s cheekbones.

“Can I ask you a question, though?” Lance asks once Shiro puts the brushes in his hands back down.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Do I look any different?” Shiro blinks.

“What do you mean?” Lance rubs a hand along the back of his neck, a redness on his cheeks that has nothing to do with the subtle blush Shiro had chosen for him.

“I mean...like...I...Do I…” Lance can’t seem to get a full sentence out, stuttering and not meeting Shiro’s eyes.

“Are you asking me if I think you look pretty?” Now that’s endearing; Lance’s face is even redder than ever.

“Well--I mean--is that weird?” Lance’s voice is small and Shiro isn’t used to it.

“No. And you’ve always been pretty to me, Lance.” He says this immediately and without hesitation.

Lance stops talking and Shiro feels like he might have said something wrong. “...you...you can’t just say things like that…”

“Why can’t I? You’re my best friend; I can say that you’re pretty whenever I want.” Lance stays quiet again, just staring at Shiro. Shiro wonders what Lance is looking for in his expression.

“Right,” Shiro feels like that isn’t what should be said, but he can’t think of anything else to fill that space. Just as Shiro is about to open his mouth to say  _ something _ , Lance interrupts him. “How killer is the wing you gave me?”

 

* * *

 

Shiro can’t say that hanging out with Lance so much lately has been a bad thing. He really has no space to complain - he’s genuinely enjoying it. Sure, they’ve been friends for years since they were kids; even now, their apartments are side-by-side.

But Shiro would be the first to admit that it’s been a while since he and Lance have had a chance to hang out on their own. There’s almost always a group of friends in between them, so Shiro is just really thankful to have his best friend for himself for once.

“--and then Hunk just decided to shout-ask Keith out. Outta nowhere! At the movie theatre! In the middle of the movie!”

“Did they get kicked out?”

“The most amazing part is that they didn’t!”

“Careful, Lance. Your mascara will get everywhere.” Lance pins his hands under his thighs, trying to keep them from gesturing too wildly. “Was it really out of nowhere?”

“Okay, no,” Lance concedes with a snicker. “Hunk’s had a crush on Keith  _ forever _ . But Keith’s liked Hunk forever too, but they’re both just dingos sometimes and were too chicken to ask each other out.”

Shiro smiles, chuckling a little. “I’m glad they worked it out though.”

“Me too!” Lance jumps and would have had a whole eyelid of destroyed eyeshadow and mascara had Shiro not had amazing reflexes. “Sorry.” Shiro fixes him with a look, Lance really has a habit of apologizing far too much. “Sor--I mean..thank you?”

“Better,” Shiro nods, satisfied.

Shiro’s moved on to contouring. “H-Hey...Shiro?”

“Hm?”

“Did you know you have really long eyelashes?” Shiro nearly drops the contouring palette he’s holding; he wasn’t really expecting that.

“I never really thought about it…” 

“Also did you know you have really pretty eyes?” At this, Shiro actually has to tighten his grip on the palette. It’s suddenly very warm. The room is warm. His face is warm. Everything is just so warm. 

“Thank you, Lance.” What is happening?

Lance smiles and looks to the side, shoulders falling slightly. Shiro can’t shake the feeling that he might have missed something.

 

* * *

 

“How about these two together?” Shiro takes a look at Lance’s choices of eyeshadow; both are a little dark and one is particularly sparkly.

“Maybe for a night look. It would look a little dramatic.” Lance sighs dramatically, flopping back against Shiro’s vanity bench. 

“This is more complicated than I thought.”

“Eyeshadow is sometimes a hit or miss.” Shiro fondly remembers experimenting with turquoise (maybe not so much fondly and more along the lines of shuddering at the disaster he once was). 

“Okay...how about...contouring?”

“So you kinda want to exaggerate where shadows and the light naturally falls on your face.” The face Lance gives him is blank and uncomprehending; Shiro snorts. “Here.”

Lance, as usual, dutifully hands Shiro whatever he’s holding. “Why would I want to exaggerate anything? Isn’t the eyeliner supposed to do the eye-catching thing for me?”

Shiro smiles, patient in every move he makes. “Yes, but contouring really makes the planes of your face pop. Like your cheekbones. Or it can slim down certain areas too. It’s really just to accentuate the good parts of your face.”

“Huh.” Lance nods in understanding. “No wonder people can’t look away from your face even more than before!”

Shiro splutters, dropping the Beauty Blender in his fingers onto Lance’s lap. “Lance!”

“What! It’s true!” Shiro fixes him with a bewildered look and Lance just looks horrified. “You mean, you’ve never noticed?! Dude! People look at you like they’d sell their soul to the devil just to get the chance to date you!”

“I’m not--”

“And on top of that, you’re literally like the absolute best person I’ve ever known.” Lance gasps. “Please don’t tell Hunk, it’ll break his big ol’ heart!”

Shiro is still stunned; he’s not stunned that people think he’s handsome - he’s heard that a little too much - but he is stunned that  _ Lance _ is the one talking about it. Lance, his childhood friend, is doling out handsome compliments to  _ him _ . 

“Thanks, Lance.” Shiro doesn’t know what else to say. Lance blushes and turns away.

“Yeah...it’s…” Lance looks down, breaking eye contact with Shiro. “It’s nothing.”

 

* * *

 

“You look really nice tonight, Lance.” Lance is currently sat in front of Shiro’s vanity mirror; nearly a month has gone by since Lance had asked him for makeup lessons. He’s gotten quite good at putting on his eyeliner, but his hands still shake sometimes and it takes him a little longer than it would take Shiro. Shiro can’t help the fond smile set on his lips as he draws a wing with a careful flick of his wrist. “Date?”

“A-Actually yeah…” Shiro almost can’t process this properly. Lance is going on a date?

Not that he didn’t think Lance could ever get a date! Just that…he never knew Lance was dating…?

No matter what way he spins it, he just sounds absolutely horrible and shitty.

“Oh? With who?” Shiro doesn’t get it; he doesn’t understand what the hell the rampage of feelings in his stomach are or where the hell they even came from.

“Oh um. Lotor? Tall, long hair..” Lance continues describing Lotor to Shiro, but Shiro knows the guy well enough. It’s not like he doesn’t pay attention to Lance when he talks about the ‘dude he met at Sephora the one time Shiro couldn’t come with him’. They’d apparently traded contact information; Shiro didn’t know that anything actually came from that interaction. 

“I...didn’t know you were interested in him.” Shiro finds himself picking and choosing his words incredibly carefully, trying to come off as not as emotionally invested as his instincts want him to.

“Oh I’m not.” Lance says without hesitation. “Errr---I mean I’m not really?” He carefully puts the mascara he’s holding down. Lance looks shy, not meeting Shiro’s gaze through the mirror. “Honestly, it’s just a trial date to see if we’ll even click romantically.”

Shiro’s eyebrows furrow. He’s never heard of anything like that before. “A trial date?”

“Yeah. Well.” Lance is back to his makeup, slowly brushing highlight onto his cheekbones. “To be honest, I was trying to flirt with someone else, but...it doesn’t look like it’s gonna pan out.” Shiro’s face pinches into something confused and disheartened; it’s the first time he’s hearing about this from Lance. “‘Sides..Lotor’s nice enough and he’s easy on the eyes. His cheekbones are to die for!” 

Something in Shiro’s gut twists violently.

“...but?”

“...but I really wanted it to work out with the other guy.” Lance sets the brushes his hands down onto the vanity, still not meeting Shiro’s imploring gaze. He takes a pause as if gathering his thoughts before he’s putting his makeup away with renewed gusto. “I guess it’s not so surprising. He’s way outta my league. There’s no way he could ever like me like that.”

“Hey now,” Shiro immediately cuts in. He’s not going to let Lance depreciate himself so easily. “You’re a great guy, Lance. Anybody would be lucky to date you.”

Lance stays quiet, biting his lip; something tense and unfamiliar descends between them. Shiro hates it, whatever it is. He knows the look passing across Lance’s face, the one where Lance has something he wants to say, but is struggling to get it out.

“Thank you.” Shiro’s frown returns full force when Lance completely changes the direction of their conversation. Even he can tell that ‘thank you’ is not what Lance wanted to say right then. “How do I look?”

Shiro looks at Lance carefully and feels like he’s seeing his childhood friend for the first time. Which makes absolutely no sense because Shiro has always been able to recall Lance’s features with complete clarity before, so this shouldn’t be any different. Except that it is and everything in his head is going topsy-turvy. And Lance is still not making eye contact with him.

“Let me fix your eyeliner. It’s a little uneven.” Shiro feels a little disjointed from his own body, like it’s moving on its own and Shiro’s just along for the ride. He picks up Lance’s eyeliner brush and sets to work. He has a gentle grip on Lance’s chin and he realizes that in the past few weeks, this isn’t the first time he’s sat in front of Lance like this. This isn’t the first time he has his hands on Lance’s face, brushing fingers along the smooth planes of his cheeks or inspecting Lance’s eyelids with care. But it is the first time he notices that there’s an inexplicable need in his stomach to get closer to Lance. Which he, of course, doesn’t bother to listen to. “There. P-...” Shiro’s voice catches in his throat, suddenly and unexpectedly thrown off when Lance finally looks him in the eyes. “Perfect.”

His voice peters off, tongue barely connecting with his teeth to enunciate the final syllable. Neither of them say a thing; the silence between them is even more tense now than it was earlier.

Lance is the one who breaks it, ripping their gazes apart with a turn of his head.

“Oh..I should, uh, probably get going.” 

“Do you need a ride to wherever?”

“Oh, it’s okay! Lotor’s picking me up. So he should be here already.” The knot in Shiro’s chest tightens. It suddenly feels like he’s having doors slammed in his face.

“Well...thanks for always letting me come over and force you to teach me how to use this stuff.” That’s...that’s weird. Lance is pulling away. Lance has  _ never _ pulled away from Shiro.

“H-Hey, you weren’t forcing me to do anything!” Lance fixes him with a look that actually manages to make him feel small. One corner of Lance’s mouth tips up.

“Seriously, Shiro. Thank you.”

“Come on, now. You sound like you’re working your way to a goodbye.” He tries to make it sound like a joke, but the way his insides are spinning and turning, it really doesn’t feel that way. It feels like another door is closing before he even knows where it’s supposed to lead.

Lance smiles, but Shiro doesn’t see it reach his eyes. This feels bad; this all feels very, very wrong. “For real, though. Thank you, Shiro.” Shiro feels like someone is pressing too hard on his chest; Lance didn’t disagree, he didn’t even say anything to counter Shiro’s joke. Lance is slipping his shoes on, one hand on the doorknob. Shiro needs to do something - to get him to stay.

“Lance, I--” The other man pushes forward, cutting Shiro off before he can figure out what he wants to say.

Lance doesn’t even look at Shiro, keeping his gaze at his feet. Shiro almost doesn’t hear what Lance says next. “At least I got some killer makeup skills out of this.”

Lance waves one more time, gaze still on the floor, closing Shiro’s front door behind him.

The room feels colder, somehow. It always did whenever Lance left.

…

_ At least _ …?

At least?

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro doesn’t start asking questions until a few hours later.

It’s not like Shiro hasn’t been doing his makeup for years now. On and off, sure, but Lance has been there the whole time and that is what makes him wonder why Lance only started asking about his makeup now. It was never a secret and Shiro was, more often than not, at Lance’s apartment doing his makeup. He had been there through Shiro’s glitter eyeliner days  _ and _ his experimental emo days. But Lance had never asked about Shiro’s makeup regiment.

Until now.

It’s not like Lance was learning how to put foundation for Lotor.

Ugh, even thinking the guy’s name leaves a sour taste in Shiro’s mouth.

Lance had met Lotor after he had asked Shiro for makeup lessons, so Shiro could at least eliminate ‘impressing Lotor’ from his list of reasons why Lance would want to learn how to put on makeup. Shiro also eliminates ‘curiosity’ from his list - prematurely, he’s sure, but he’s fairly certain that Lance would have started putting on makeup when Shiro had if he really had been that curious. 

Okay, so his list only had two points, but Shiro really couldn’t come up with anything else.

So, what had Lance really intended?

With a heavy sigh, he rests his head on the back of his couch, letting his mind wander. Lance is probably still on his date with Lotor. Shiro swipes both his hands down his face; what’s going on? He’s at a bit of a loss - which is distressing because out of everyone he should not be the one to be at a loss with Lance.

His heart feels like it’s getting crushed and there’s something unnamed slipping past the gaps of his fingers. Shiro can’t figure it out, but it  _ hurts _ and it all has to do with Lance. 

Lance who’s pulling away from him; the very same Lance who, for as long as Shiro has known him, has never been far from his side.

Shiro groans.

The more he thinks about how he’s feeling, the clearer it gets. It was never about Lance pulling away from Shiro. It was always about how Shiro was pushing Lance further and further from him.

He really is the thickest person he’s ever known.

 

* * *

 

 

The most disconcerting thing about the next few weeks is the fact Shiro sees  _ less  _ of Lance. He’s really not used to a lack of Lance and the knot in his stomach just gets tighter and tighter in the worst way. He knows, just from quick morning updates when Shiro’s coming back from his morning runs and Lance is rushing out to get to class, that Lance is spending more and more time with Lotor.

Even Shiro can tell when his chances are running out. So he makes up a plan, though a little haphazard and involved prying information out of Hunk’s loyal hands. 

It’s reckless and impulsive and completely not Shiro’s style.

He’s going to kidnap Lance from his date tonight.

Which is how he finds himself staking the diner that Lance and Lotor are supposed be eating at in what would be the most impulsive thing he’s ever done in his entire life. The second he spots that familiar head of brown hair and hears that endearingly loud and beautiful voice, Shiro pounces. He gets right in front of Lance and the guy he assumes is Lotor, apologizes to the guy, grabs Lance by the arm, and runs before either of the two can really react.

“Shiro? What the fuck?”

Shiro’s eyes widen, like he never expected for it to go this way. To be honest, the whole plan he had made was more wishful thinking than something executable. He hadn’t really meant to drag Lance away from his date with Lotor. He hadn’t meant to pull Lance into some random, empty park.

Except, he had.

He had meant all of it.

And he thinks he’s finally figured out exactly what to say.

“Go out with me.”

“What the--” Lance has yet to shake Shiro’s hold, which Shiro takes as a better-than-bad sign. “Shiro, what are you talking about?”

At this, Shiro grasps the hand he’s holding with both of his own. “I’ve always known what I was supposed to do with everything in my life, but when it came to you I--” He gulps; he’s afraid of being this honest, but he can’t afford not to be. “When it came to you, I was always at a loss. I never knew what to do, so I always just ignored it and chose the easiest, most neutral way of going about things. And I never realized--” Shiro makes eye contact with Lance and Shiro almost forgets to continue. “I never realized that in doing that, in being so neutral, I was hurting you.”

“Sh--”

“Wait. I-- There’s more.” Shiro interrupts Lance, who slowly closes his mouth and waits for Shiro to speak. He takes a deeper breath, stepping closer towards Lance. “The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you. I have never, ever wanted to hurt you. Straddling that line did and I can never take that back.”

Shiro’s gaze is blurry; he doesn’t realize that his eyes were filling up with tears and that his hands were shaking as they held on to Lance’s. But he presses on. He needs to say this; he needs Lance to hear him out. 

“But this is the first time I’ve ever been this sure when it comes to you. Lance, not having you around sucked. Everything was just so--” He brings one hand to his eyes, rubbing at his tears with the heel of his palm. “So muted. I hated every second and I realized..” He’s such a mess, but he’s glad he didn’t put on any makeup that day. “I don’t want to lose you. I can’t not have you in my life; not having you there like always made me realize that and I know that’s really shitty of me. I should know better and I should’ve come to realize this a long time ago. But I’m done with being unsure and playing it safe. I know I need to take this risk and you’ve always said that I need to be a little more selfish. This is the most sure I’ve ever been. This is the most selfish thing I’ve ever done.” Shiro’s voice stutters out into a whisper. He’s so nervous and he’s sure his heart is beating right out of his chest and onto the sidewalk. “Lance, please go out with me.”

A heavy silence stretches between the pair. Shiro’s still got one hand holding Lance’s, but he can’t look up from the ground. He has his eyes clenched, waiting for Lance to say something. His free hand has dropped to his side, clenching to hide how badly he’s shaking.

“Shiro,” Lance’s voice cuts into the quiet, despite his tone being barely above a whisper. “You are absolutely the biggest, dumbest guy I’ve ever known--”

“I know.”

“I can’t believe you pulled me from my date like that--”

“I know.”

“And realizing all of this just when I was trying to move on from you is really shitty--”

“I  _ know _ .”

“But you had better kiss me right now otherwise I’m going to start sobbing.” At first, Shiro thinks he must be hallucinating; he must have imagined those words. But his doubts are thrown aside with one look at Lance’s smiling face, tears cutting through his perfectly blended contouring.

He’s never moved faster.

Shiro steps toward Lance, scooping the other man into his arms and pulling them as close as he can. The first press of their lips together has Shiro seeing stars. He laughs into their kiss, pressing more and more kisses onto Lance’s smiling lips. The constricting feeling that’s been in his chest for the last few weeks is gone. When they finally pull away, Shiro has one hand tangled in Lance’s hair, while the other arm is wrapped tightly across Lance’s back. Shiro presses his forehead against Lance’s, shifting his hold so that he can run his thumb back and forth across Lance’s cheekbone.

“God, I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to do that.” Their lips are centimeters apart, breaths tangling together in ways Shiro never thought would be happening. 

“I can’t believe this isn’t a dream,” Lance giggles, hands clasping behind the back of Shiro’s neck. Shiro leans forward again, rubbing their noses together until laughter peals out of Lance. He shifts again to loop both arms around Lance’s hips.

“I’m never going to let you go,” Shiro says between the kisses he’s returned to.

Lance’s smile widens, blush tinting his ears red. “Good,” he whispers breathlessly and Shiro still can’t believe on what he almost missed out on. He can’t believe that this is all his. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me @kougamira on twitter or stillwritinghallelujah on tumblr


End file.
